The present invention relates to bottle packages. More particularly, the present invention relates to bottle packages which utilize honeycomb packing to cushion bottles within packages.
Liquid products which may for one reason or another are not storable or shipable in plastic containers are stored and shipped in glass containers. For example, chemical products such as solutions which must retain a high level of purity, for example solutions used in chromatography columns, are shipped in glass bottles because there may be an adverse reaction with the plastic used to make plastic containers. Glass bottles are of course brittle and shatter on impact. Therefore it is necessary to cushion glass bottles containing chemical products to prevent breakage during shipping and storage. This is necessary not only to protect the product itself but also because these products are frequently solvents which present a hazard if allowed to spill into the surrounding environment.
Disposing of packaging material is an additional burden on those who receive bottles and who are already burdened with disposing not only the chemical products as, or after, they are used, but also with the burden of disposing of the bottles themselves. Any arrangement which can reduce the disposal burden on a user of chemical products shipped and stored in bottles is of substantial importance. Currently, it is almost a universal practice to package bottles of chemicals in expanded foam, polystyrene (EPS) packing which is placed around the bottles in a corrugated paper board container. A drawback of using EPS is that solvents in or on the bottles can dissolve the EPS, thus reducing or eliminating its cushioning purpose. Moreover, once the package is opened there are two streams of material which must be disposed of i.e. one for corrugated paper board and the other for expanded polystyrene. Polystyrene foam is now becoming an environmental hazard in of itself, both because the gases that it releases as it decomposes and because of its exaggerated physical presence due to its rigid expanded foam structure that consumes a great deal of space.
In view of these considerations, there is a need for an economical replacement of polystyrene with a packing material which elevates the burden of having two waste streams and which uses a packing material for which there are waste disposal facilities and arrangements already in place.
In view of the aforementioned considerations, the present invention is directed to packaging for at least one glass bottle comprising a carton, a paper board honeycomb core and top and bottom pads of honeycomb material. The carton is made of paper board panels defining a space having a rectangular cross-section and a preselected axial length which panels are joined to define four interior comers. The paper board honeycomb core has top and bottom ends disposed in the first space and extend axially with respect to the axial length of the panels while being in abutment with the panels. The honeycomb core also has at least one facing sheet facing inwardly with respect to the packaging and defining a second space for receiving the bottle. Axially extending voids free of honeycomb material are formed in the honeycomb core to allow the core to be formed about the bottle. Rectangular panels of honeycomb material are positioned in the carton above and below the bottle and in abutment with the top and bottom ends of the honeycomb core.
In accordance with additional aspects of the invention, the honeycomb core has either four axially extending voids which align with the four interior comers of a square carton or eight axially extending voids which divide the honeycomb core into eight panels so that the honeycomb core can be folded to form a honeycomb tube within a square carton.
In still a further embodiment of the invention, there are four bottles in a square carton and the honeycomb core is comprised of two portions, each defining a pair of compartments which receive one bottle. In a further aspect of this arrangement, each portion of the honeycomb core is G-shaped so that when disposed adjacent one another within the carton four closed compartments result.
In another embodiment of the invention there are six bottles in a rectangular carton with a honeycomb core which is severed and bent a plurality of times to define eight compartments, each receiving one glass bottle.